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How To Make The Economy and Taxes FAIR
This lens is a plan for making the American economy and tax system fair for everyone. It contains ways for everyone to succeed, ways to eliminate offshore tax havens and loopholes, and thoughts from past leaders on the economy.
Theodore Roosevelt
"This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in."
A 5 Step Plan To Make Taxes and The Economy Fair
In these times of troubling economic conditions, politicians and the media give a lot of lip service to the economy. There are five things that could be done to make things better quickly.
Stumble It!
- First and foremost, the government needs to encourage entrepreneurship. This could be done by offering business classes to citizens - free of charge - to train people on the ins and outs of running a business, and offering opportunity grants - not loans - to people who have ideas for a new business, especially innovative ones. I say grants instead of loans because people are reluctant to begin an untested venture when they may end up deeply in debt if it fails.
- REPEAL ALL INCOME TAX LEGISLATION - Including the Income Taxation Amendment to the Constitution and current "payroll" taxes
- ABOLISH THE IRS!!! This entity will cost US Taxpayers more than $11 billion dollars in 2009 according to the Office of Management and Budget. With a new, more fair tax system as I describe below, it would be completely unnecessary.
- Institute a Nationwide Sales Tax. With income taxes gone, this would make the tax system more fair for all by taxing only discretionary income - the money you spend on things that you don't need to survive. This tax would be paid by anyone who buys OR sells goods or services within the U.S. This would include all illegal immigrants and international travelers. There would be no taxes charged on things needed for survival, such as food, water, electricity, etc. Consumers would pay a 25% tax on goods purchased, and a 10% tax on services purchased. Businesses that sell anything within the U.S. would pay taxes as well - not just those based in the U.S. They would pay a 10% tax for any goods or services sold within the U.S. This tax would be distributed to local, state, and federal governments through existing sales tax collection methods used in each state. This would make taxes much more fair. For example, currently someone living in New York City making $50,000 per year is taxed the same as someone living in Kansas City making the same amount. However, the person in New York City cannot afford the taxes charged on them as easily as the person living in Kansas City due to the cost of living. With a nationwide sales tax, the essentials of life would not be taxed, making it easier for people who are scraping by and charging taxes on those who are spending money on things beyond what they need to survive.
- Finally, corporations must be more stringently regulated. They must be required to pay employees not just the minimum wage, but a living wage, so people are not having to work two or three jobs just to survive. Also, disparities in pay between men and women, black and white, and executives, like CEO's, and the workers who make the success of the company possible, must be regulated to make certain that they are fair.
Stumble It! "A public debt is a public curse. - James Madison"
Thoughts On Economy
"The class which has the power to rob upon a large scale has also the power to control the government and legalize their robbery." - Eugene V. Debs
"Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours its own kind, for I can apply no milder term to...the general prey of the rich on the poor." - Thomas Jefferson
"The hopes of the republic cannot forever tolerate either underserved poverty or self-serving wealth." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country...Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the predjudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln
"I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom." - Thomas Jefferson
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." - Paulo Freire
"All privileges based on wealth, and all enmity to honest men merely because they are wealthy, are un-American." - Theodore Roosevelt
"Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours its own kind, for I can apply no milder term to...the general prey of the rich on the poor." - Thomas Jefferson
"The hopes of the republic cannot forever tolerate either underserved poverty or self-serving wealth." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country...Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the predjudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln
"I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom." - Thomas Jefferson
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." - Paulo Freire
"All privileges based on wealth, and all enmity to honest men merely because they are wealthy, are un-American." - Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made."
Helpful Links For Hard Times
Wall Street Bailout
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US National Debt
Books on Taxes and the Economy
Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works and Other Half-Baked Theories Don't by John R. Lott Jr.
Freedomnomics is everything you wanted to know abo more...0 points
The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics by Jonathan Chait
American politics has been hijacked. Over the past more...0 points
How to Take Advantage of the People Who Are Trying to Take Advantage of You: 50 Ways to Capitalize on the System by Joseph SB Morse
In this book, you'll find entertaining description more...0 points
If Americans Really Understood The Income Tax: Uncovering Our Most Expensive Ignorance by John O Fox
One hundred eighty million Americans file income t more...0 points
The Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes by Stephen Holmes
To "fight for your rights," or anyone el more...0 points
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Reader's Comments and Feedback
susannaduffy wrote...
Those big corporations are the pits - they capitalise their profits and socialise their losses
Posted March 01, 2009
R_R wrote...
Sales tax is more of a consumption tax (so investment and savings are encouraged), but I worry if it would become an unfair burden on people with lower income - but then again, it may actually be less than what they pay in income tax!
I rate this lens 5/5
Posted December 05, 2008
seolenz wrote...
So how do you think the big Government Bailout is going to affect taxes? Certainly a lot of people must have the same view or vibe as I am getting. This does not make taxes fair, as the lower and middle classes get stuck paying for the big corporations slip ups. I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks. I rate this lens 5/5
Posted September 22, 2008
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by sunshine28083
I am a married mother of four boys - ages 9, 7, and 2 year old twins. I hold a bachelor's degree in Secondary English Education, several certification... (more)
